The Gift Shop by Charlotte Armstrong

A dying fraternity brother draws a wealthy playboy into a bizarre conspiracy

Bernie staggers off the airplane from Honolulu, a lei around his neck and blood seeping from the wound in his chest. He stumbles to the terminal gift shop, and demands the cashier point him to a payphone. As his life seeps away, Bernie calls Harry Fairchild, his old fraternity brother. Dying or not, he has a job to do.

Harry is a playboy, the scion of an oil-rich family known throughout California. Bernie was in Honolulu working for Harry’s father, and he has a message to give the old man before he expires. Baffled, Harry races to the airport, arriving just as Bernie is being taken to the hospital, where he dies on the operating table. Somehow Harry’s father is mixed up in the murder, and Harry is going to find out how, even if it means risking a knife to his own gut.

“Jet-paced, revved up for action before the first page is flipped over.” - Pittsburgh Press